Activities

The ninth world congress of the Committee for a Workers’ International
(CWI) took place in Belgium in mid-January.

Delegates and visitors from 25 of the 36 countries in which the CWI
organises, came together against the background of a worldwide
increase in struggle against the effects of brutal 21st century
capitalism.

socialistworld.net

world congress 2007 - Rising anger and discontent in Europe

The CWI congress session on Europe, to which delegates and visitors from
16 different countries contributed, highlighted the volatile political
situation in many countries. On the one hand massive ’neo-liberal’
attacks are being carried out by governments and bosses virtually
everywhere and, on the other hand, there is a broad rejection of these
policies combined with people’s anger and bitterness which occasionally
explodes into action.

The discussion also highlighted, however, the sometimes ’criminal’ role
of trade union leaders in holding back action and, also, the present
lack of mass alternatives to the main parties.

The main policy of European governments is neo-liberalism - i.e.,
maintaining and increasing the capitalists’ profits by driving down
workers’ wages and conditions, cutting spending on public services and
opening up the public sector to private profit. These policies have been
championed by British governments - Tory and New Labour - for over 25
years.

In much of Western Europe mass opposition held back the full brunt of
neo-liberal attacks for some time. However, these attacks have increased
in recent years, often in a more rapid and sharper way than experienced
in Britain. Many of these attacks are being carried out by ’social
democratic’ parties in government, parties that were originally built by
the working class to represent their interests.

Neo-liberalism has provoked movements in countries where there has been
no large-scale action for years, such as in Austria and the Netherlands.
In Sweden, the social democratic government was thrown out after 12
years in power due to its policies of cuts, and within weeks of the new
right-wing government being elected there was a mood for strikes. In
Denmark, one of the supposed success stories of the EU, there has been
the biggest mass movement for 20 years, over welfare cuts.

In Germany, only 50% of the workforce now has 35-40 hour a week jobs. 11
million workers are part-time and the number of workers on short-term
contracts has doubled. Unemployment benefit has been slashed, with the
introduction of one euro an hour jobs, which effectively means having to
work for benefit money.

The scale of these attacks had a stunning effect for a while but
increasingly the mood is potentially explosive, particularly now as
company profits soar. There have recently been some bitterly fought
local struggles and, just after the CWI congress, large protest strikes
against a proposed increase in the retirement age from 65 to 67.

It was out of anger at the previous social democratic Schröder
government that the new left party, the WASG, was born. (WASG - Election
Alternative for Work and Social Justice - a broad anti-neo-liberal
electoral alternative launched in 2005, which contains a variety of
political currents including the CWI.)

Lack of alternative

There is universal underlying anger and bitterness and massive distrust
of capitalist governments by a majority of workers and sections of the
middle classes. Even right wing capitalist parties are feeling this
anger, and, like the Tories who claim to champion the NHS in Britain,
are pretending to be on the side of workers.

The Moderate Party in Sweden, the largest party in a new governing
coalition, felt compelled to present itself as the "New Moderates" and
even as being a new workers’ party!

The underlying anger is one of the reasons why governing parties can
lose elections even when there is economic growth.

In Austria, the right-wing People’s Party was shocked to lose the recent
elections, but so was the Social Democratic Party shocked to win - it
lost votes in workers’ areas and only won narrowly.

The Swedish social democrats were not voted out because of a rightward
shift in society, but because of their own failure.

The instability of governments means that the capitalists can be forced
to make concessions.

For example, in Italy, the new ’centre-left’ government of Prodi
initially had an austerity budget, but faced with strong opposition from
workers (and with tax revenues being higher than expected), Prodi
stepped back temporarily from some of his attacks. But the capitalist
strategists still demand a neo-liberal drive, so governments will only
make concessions to gain time and stabilise, only to return to attacks
later.

Most of the former Labour and social-democratic parties, which in the
past were seen by many as representing the interests of ordinary people
against the bosses, have, like New Labour in Britain, become parties of
big business.

The absence of mass-based alternatives to the main capitalist parties is
one of the key features in Europe currently, and hinders the development
of class struggle and support for socialist ideas.

Consequently there is a tendency for people to vote for ’the lesser
evil’. For example, Prodi in Italy, despite previously carrying out cuts
when in government, was narrowly voted in against the right-wing Silvio
Berlusconi.

In France, a layer of people will vote for the previously discredited
French Socialist Party, whose presidential candidate is Ségolène Royal,
to try to prevent Nicolas Sarkozy, the presidential candidate for the
UMP party (equivalent to the Tories in Britain) from being elected. At
the end of last year there was a rush of people registering to vote,
many in order to vote against him.

In these situations, who should socialists call for a vote for? In 1997
in Britain, CWI members were sympathetic to people voting Labour to get
rid of the Tories, but rather than call for a vote for Labour, we
explained that New Labour would carry out Tory policies.

A delegate to the CWI congress from France reported that CWI members in
France will understand why a layer of people will vote tactically for
Royal in the coming presidential elections.

But they will point out the capitalist nature of the French Socialist
Party’s programme, its previous role when in government and explain that
the only way to counter Sarkozy’s policies is to organise around
workers’ demands and start the process of building a new workers’ party.
They will call for a vote for the small anti-capitalist parties, LO and
LCR, in the first round of the ballot, and a blank vote in the second
round.

In the Netherlands in 2006, there was a fall in the vote for the
governing Christian Democratic Appeal party but also a decrease in the
vote for the Labour Party, which lost nine parliamentary seats despite
then being in opposition. Important though, was the greatly increased
vote for the Socialist Party (a radical party in which CWI members
participates but whose leadership is moving to the right), which
increased its seats in parliament from nine to 25. This showed that a
layer of Dutch workers were prepared to reject all the main big business
parties and vote for a party seen as a left alternative.

Trade union leadership

Across Europe trade union leaders are blocking workers’ action, or
ensuring there is only token protest rather than genuine struggle. They
appear to be more afraid of their own rank and file than they are of the
bosses. In Britain, for example, the so-called ’awkward squad’ of union
leaders have done nothing to defend car workers’ jobs.

Last December in Italy, at the Fiat factory in Turin, national trade
union leaders were shouted down when they defended government attacks.

But the experiences in France and Greece show that anger and discontent
will inevitably burst through, despite the barriers. The movement of
students and workers in France last year against the ’First Job
Contract’ (CPE) came from the ranks below.

In 2005 the French government implemented measures against workers in
small workplaces - the CNE - that meant they could be easily sacked in
their first two years. The CPE in 2006 proposed to expand this to all
workers under 26.

In 2005 the trade union leaders did nothing. By the time of the CPE,
there was an understanding that people could not just wait for a
response from the union leaders, who at best would just lead a protest
with no strategy for victory. Students also realised they had to turn to
the working class. The result was a three million-strong movement in
France that forced the government to withdraw the CPE.

In Greece there have been continuous austerity measures for 21 years,
which have intensified in the last few years. There is no shortage of
militancy among workers but the role of the trade union leadership has
been to sabotage the building of a unified movement - including calling
short, token strikes with no strategy to win.

In the last year there has been an almighty movement of university
students, school students and education workers. This showed
preparedness to fight and a militancy on the part of the workers and
students involved, but also posed the need to build a union leadership
that is up to the tasks ahead.

CWI members are not just commentators on events but are participants,
and can be influential in how events develop. The role of our public
representatives - such as Joe Higgins in the Irish parliament - can be
vital.

CWI members are playing a leading role in Northern Ireland on the issue
of opposing water charges; in Belgium and Poland we have been
instrumental in the development of preliminary steps towards new
workers’ parties; in the Berlin WASG we have been crucial in the stand
against capitulation to cuts and privatisation.

In Britain we play a central role in the PCS union which is leading the
trade union fight on job cuts, pay and pensions and there are many other
examples. Even the role of individual CWI members in some situations has
been decisive in securing victories and demonstrating what is possible -
such as in Britain in leading strike action at Whipps Cross hospital in
East London, and at the Visteon car parts plant in Swansea.

In addition to a political climate of growing insecurity and fear for
the future, there is great concern about environmental pollution and
global warming. As well as campaigning against attacks on workers’
living standards, it is therefore also necessary for the CWI to counter
this fear with our optimism on solving all the major problems created by
capitalism, including the environmental crisis, by building a socialist
future.

Economic insecurity

One factor in the upturn in class struggles in a number of countries is
that there has been continued economic growth in Europe, with big
increases in profits achieved through increased exploitation. Now,
workers are demanding their share.

There are two main factors for the economic growth: exports and private
consumption fuelled by debt. The Netherlands has the highest rate of
personal indebtedness in the world but there is a similar picture
elsewhere. Spending is often fuelled by homeowners’ new borrowing on the
basis of huge increases in house prices.

Capitalist governments know their economies are on shaky foundations.
The Euro-area growth rate of 2.6% in 2006 was hailed as the best for
years, but it is still lower than just six years ago when it was over
3%, and it is projected to fall in 2007 and 2008. Unemployment in
Germany and France remains high at around 10% of the workforce.

None of the main big business parties hold out the prospect of a rosy
future. There is general insecurity and fear of the future. Workers are
told they have to work longer and will get smaller pensions; there are
attacks on sick pay, unemployment benefits etc; there are sweeping cuts
and privatisation of public services. The saying - the rich get richer
and the poor get poorer - has never been truer.

Profits surge

In Germany, between 1995 and 2005 there was a huge increase in profits -
nearly doubling from 230 billion euros to 420 billion euros - yet the
real hourly wage for workers last year was lower than in 1990.

In Italy, the richest four families own more wealth than the entire
Italian budget and the wealth of the richest family has increased by
100% since 2005!

Globalisation is used as a major method to drive down living standards.
’Outsourcing’ (moving production to countries with lower wages and less
regulation), not always to Asia but to eastern and central Europe too,
has been used to drive down wages and increase profits. As well as
massively increasing exploitation in the production that is transferred,
simply the threat of outsourcing is used to try to force through wage
cuts in Western Europe.

Increasingly, migration is also used as a tool to drive down wages and
conditions. Migrant labour is used on a large scale in Spain, Italy,
Britain, as well as in smaller countries like Greece. This is either
cheap labour or trained labour, or both together.

Countries in Africa and Asia train doctors and nurses and then Western
governments poach them. Similarly in construction - the former Stalinist
regimes in east Europe have more trained builders and so west European
bosses now poach them.

Conflicts could develop between indigenous workers and recent migrants
over jobs, housing etc. We have to be alert to this and to the dangers
of racism

Racism and the far-right

With the absence of a mass left alternative, in many countries there has
been some growth of the far-right. In Germany, the neo-Nazi German
National Party (NPD) won 7.3% of the vote in the state of
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania last September, and now has seats in three
of East Germany’s five state parliaments.

The far-right Sweden Democrats received 2.9% of the vote in the
September 2006 Swedish general election. The reactionary Freedom Party
made gains in the 2006 Austrian election, achieving 11% of the vote - a
recovery from 2002 but still less than half of its 1999 vote. With the
accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union, there is now a
small bloc of far-right representatives in the European parliament.

As well as the racism fostered by the far-right, mainstream right-wing
and ex-social democratic parties are also increasing their use of racism
and nationalism. In Germany, for example, there is a racist campaign
developing against Muslims, suggesting they are not integrated properly
into German society, which is leading to growing polarisation. This has
encouraged neo-fascists to be more confident in putting forward their
views and there has been a 23% increase in racist attacks.

The far-right can also gain support in central and eastern Europe. In
these countries workers suffered an enormous fall in their living
standards after the collapse of Stalinism in the early 1990s and, after
15 years, have still not recovered their former level.

Unlike in Western Europe, where the capitalist classes accumulated
capital over generations, the present capitalist classes in eastern
Europe have robbed and cheated their way in rapidly, simply taking over
as private property industry that was previously publicly owned. But the
current weakness of the labour movement in many of these countries means
that there is no explanation or challenge to capitalism from the left.

In Poland, for example, workers are experiencing brutal ’gangster’
capitalism, mired in corruption and scandal. The ruling parties carry
out right-wing homophobic, racist and sexist policies - for example the
mayor of Warsaw banned a gay-equality parade and encouraged neo-fascists
to attack gays, and now the government intends to ban abortion. But
because of the excesses of brutal exploitation and the scandals swamping
the government, support for the main parties is slipping.

CWI members in Poland are active alongside August 80, a leftward-moving
trade union with its main base amongst miners that has initiated a new
left-wing anti-capitalist party, formed a committee to defend victimised
workers and has championed gay rights and abortion rights.